Wights
| Wights |
|---|
| Height: Same as base race (typically 155 to 190 ) |
| Attribute Modifiers: +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, –2 Charisma |
| Languages: Languages known in life, often silent |
| Cultures: Wight, Greater Wight, Barrow Wight |
Overview
Names: Wights retain the names of their former lives, often used in ancient inscriptions, though they rarely speak (e.g., “Lord Roric,” “The Iron Champion”).
General Lore: Wights are undead spirits bound to animate their own decayed corpses, created from individuals who perished with overwhelming envy, bitterness, or a burning, unfinished quest for power or vengeance. Unlike ghouls, Wights are not driven by hunger, but by an insatiable desire to extinguish life and steal the vitality of the living.
Wights possess an acute hatred for all life and are often found guarding ancient tombs, forgotten battlegrounds, or the ruins of their former kingdoms. Their touch is cold and deadly, draining the victim's life force and often creating a new Wight in the process, ensuring their dark legacy continues.
Physical Description:
Wights appear as mummified or severely decayed versions of their living selves. Their flesh is typically shriveled, blackened, or skeletal, stretched tightly over their bones, yet they retain an unnerving semblance of their original form, often marked by the elaborate armor or grave clothes in which they were interred.
Their eyes usually glow with a palpable malevolence—a sickly green or harsh red light reflecting their consumed bitterness. While lacking the speed of a Vampire or the twitching frenzy of a Ghoul, Wights move with a terrible, deliberate strength. Their strength is supernaturally enhanced, and they often carry the rusted remnants of ancient weapons.
Society:
Wight society is non-existent, as they are creatures of immense bitterness and individual malice. Wights are solitary in purpose, focused on guarding their designated territory and consuming the life force of any who trespass.
However, they are efficient at propagating their own kind. Any victim killed by a Wight's energy drain attack often rises as a new Wight under the control of its killer. This process can quickly turn a single Wight into a deadly band of subservient lesser Wights, all focused on the original Wight's bitter intent (such as defending a ruined fortress or maintaining a vigil over a cursed artifact). They communicate primarily through hostile silence and a terrifying, bone-chilling aura.
Relations:
Wights hate all forms of life and view them as resources to be drained and consumed.
Mortals (Humans, Elves, Dwarves): Are simply fuel for their continued existence and the subjects of their terrible touch. They are utterly merciless in their attacks on the living.
Necromancers and Liches: Wights can be controlled by powerful necromancers, often serving as loyal, tireless guardians of forbidden tombs and laboratories. They respect the power of undead capable of wielding greater control over death.